Published 4:00 am, Friday, June 30, 2000

"The New Eve" gives lie to the notion that good movies can be made only about likable characters. This French film is about a young woman who is utterly repellent. It follows the exploits of this self-indulgent, neurotic moron who does nothing but take drugs and have sex all day until, finally, she latches on to a married man and sets about separating him from his family.

It's fascinating. The lady is a mess. She goes to a family dinner and starts mouthing off to her brother and pregnant sister-in-law about how much she hates married couples. Then she goes to a nightclub, drinks herself into a stupor and has sex with a stranger on an elevator. Twice she vomits all over herself.

One thing that's so compelling about the film is that filmmaker Catherine Corsini seems to be on this woman's side. Or if she's not, she never tips her hand. So we get this spectacle of horror presented without judgment. Camille has nothing going for her -- not looks, not virtue, not even a personality to call her own, since substance abuse tends to turn everyone into the same mumbling ruin. All Camille has is a hunger, indiscriminate and grotesque.

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She seizes on a political activist, Alexis, who is happily married with two children, and he becomes her obsession. Pierre-Loup Rajot plays Alexis as reasonable and levelheaded, so it seems unimaginable that he could ever succumb to this chain-smoking, vomiting, whining train wreck of a human being. But then, that's why we go to the movies -- to see the unimaginable.

"The New Eve" could be used as a kind of Rorschach test for relationships. Certainly, some people will see it and think Camille is one cool lady. If one were dating someone who thought that, it would be good to know right away. For that reason, it might be wise to see this film on a first or second date, just for beginning couples to know whom they're dealing with.

As Camille, Karin Viard gives a brilliant performance that's as unguarded as they come. She asks for no sympathy or understanding from the audience. In fact, Viard does nothing to show that she, herself, understands that Camille is a horror show. It's only later that one realizes that Viard was acting, and then the depth of her achievement becomes apparent. -- Advisory: This film contains nudity and strong language.